Crooner
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Crooner is an epithet given to a male singer of a certain style of popular songs, dubbed Pop standards. A crooner is a singer of popular ballads thus a "balladeer". The singer is normally backed by a Big band.
Evolution
Crooning is style derived from the Bel Canto of Italian Opera#redirect , but with the emphasis on vocal nuances and phrasing as opposed to volume. Some crooners, most notably Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, incorporate other styles into their music, such as Jazz, Blues and Dixieland. Crooning was the dominant form of music from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. For example, Bing Crosby's radio show, Kraft Music Hall (1935-1946) had 50 million listeners every Thursday evening [[Citing sources citation needed]]. Considerably, Bing Crosby was the first American crooner. After 1954 popular music became dominated by other styles, especially rock 'n' roll, while the music of crooners such as Perry Como and Matt Monro was recategorized as "easy listening" or "adult contemporary." Crooners have remained popular among fans of traditional pop music, with contemporary performers such as Tony Bennett, Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck keeping the form alive. While both male and female singers sang in this style, the term "crooner" is rarely used to describe a female singer.
List of famous crooners
- Paul Anka
- Gene Austin
- Gene Autry
- Bobby Bare
- Tony Bennett
- Brook Benton
- Pat Boone
- Al Bowlly
- Nat King Cole
- Buddy Clark
- Russ Columbo
- Perry Como
- Harry Connick Jr.
- Bing Crosby
- Vic Damone
- Bobby Darin
- James Darren
- Sammy Davis, Jr.
- Dion
- Dave Dudley
- Cliff Edwards
- Bryan Ferry
- Eddie Fisher
- John Gary
- Karel Gott
- Engelbert Humperdinck
- Sonny James
- Jack Jones
- Tom Jones
- Steve Lawrence
- Barry Manilow
- Dean Martin
- Al Martino
- Johnny Mathis
- Roger Miller
- Matt Monro
- Jim Nabors
- Ricky Nelson
- Wayne Newton
- Donald Peers
- Webb Pierce
- Elvis Presley
- Ray Price
- Jim Reeves
- Charlie Rich
- Roy Rogers
- Neil Sedaka
- Frank Sinatra
- Mel Tillis
- Mel Tormé
- Bobby Troup
- Jerry Vale
- Rudy Vallee
- Frankie Valli
- Luther Vandross
- Bobby Vee
- Bobby Vinton
- Scott Walker
- Jerry Wallace
- Slim Whitman
- Andy Williams
Sources
- Michael Pitts and Frank Hoffman. The Rise of the Crooners (Scarecrow Press, 2002).
- Giddins, Gary. "A Pocketful of Dreams" Boston: (Little, Brown and Company, 2001).
- Various Artists. "Fabulous 50's Crooners Sing Their Hard To Find Hits" Ontario: (Hit Parade Records, 2006)
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